Steve wrote:One obvious difference with Juan (which I researched and found that its first LA landfall was 10/29 as a hurricane (also it's second landfall was too) - did intensify prior to landfall. But the water temps must have been way warmer than what they are now. Here's the link to the north gulf hi-res:
http://128.160.23.54/products/OFA/gsscofa.gif
Mid 70's if that right now.
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/cohab/hurri ... 851104.htm
That's after Juan on November 4, 1985. The temperatures were slightly less than what they are now. Unfortunately, the NOAA's data for the Juan overview (found here):
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/cohab/hurri ... n/juan.htm
The "before" is like 3 weeks before. So it's hard to say exactly how warm the waters were - but I gotta believe they were warmer than what they are now. I'd seriously expect the opposite if 96L heads for LA/MS/AL.
Steve
This is about the best I could do so far ... a running mean from October 27th to November 5th, 1985 for SST's..
And a tropical overview ...
And a closeup view ...
SF